


Make a Fire (I’ll Cool the Heat)

by hyuckieberry (95pjm)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Firefighters, Doyoung Comes Up With Bad Decisions, Firefighter!Jaehyun, Firefighter!Johnny, Fluff, Humour, M/M, Meet-Ugly, Nothing More Though, Puns and Pick-Up Lines, Ten Agrees To Said Bad Decisions, implied sexual thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 01:12:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15183473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/95pjm/pseuds/hyuckieberry
Summary: Most bad ideas start with baseless confidence and a couple shots of cheap vodka.Ten saves his twenty dollars by having Doyoung instead.





	Make a Fire (I’ll Cool the Heat)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [idlesong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/idlesong/gifts).



> a small birthday drabble for miss **[erica](https://www.twitter.com/ten7s)**! it's not much but i hope you liked it nonetheless  <3 am so glad to have you as a friend, love you mwah!

“I’m going to kill you,” It would sound more threatening if Ten isn’t currently stuck 30ft high on a tree, hugging it with his eyes squeezed shut and with his dignity hanging threadbare. “Once I work out how to make my way down, I’m going to kill you.” There's supposed to be a bite in his words but it's probably lost somewhere in between Ten's wavering tone and his shaking legs. 

"Don’t do anything stupid— (“I think that’s a little too late to say now, hyung.”) —shut up, Donghyuck. I called the fire department and they should be here any second.” Doyoung’s distant voice reminds him of how high up he is, and not in the way he wants to be either. Ten just prays last night’s dinner doesn’t find their way back up.

“This is your fault.” He screams back. “This is your fault for thinking this was in any way, shape or form a good idea. I have a wedgie so far up my ass my boxers might as well be relabelled to a thong, Doyoung. A _thong_.”

“I’m sure the hunky firefighter would _love_ that.” Doyoung replies callously.

A wind that’s usually just a hush on the back of his neck feels like a hurricane when he’s hanging on for dear life. Ten just hopes he makes it out alive in time for the new episode of Toddles and Tiaras. “How did this happen?” He wonders out loud faintly, realises Doyoung can’t hear him a few moments later, and promptly spends the next minute holding down the fried chicken in his stomach.

 

- ✦ -

 

(Here’s how it happens.

What started out had simply been a sheer product of Ten’s and Doyoung’s thirst for hot guys in uniforms. More specifically, the two firefighters who came to rescue Donghyuck’s cat stuck up a tree one Sunday morning. Sunday mornings were usually for Ten to have the freedom of waking up  _after_ mid-day and spent the rest of the it either sprawling in his sofa or sprawling in Doyoung's sofa. Sunday mornings were not for Ten and Doyoung to stare at a blank screen, questioning the existence of Gods and whether it was possible to create such numinous humans. 

If heaven has a FAQ forum somewhere, Ten would like a link of it please.

It escalates when a few weeks pass by and Ten’s left with a myriad of scratches on his hand from a cat that simply won’t budge and none the closer to meeting the hunky firefighter he would have had no qualms inviting back home just to let him see another form of stop, drop and roll.

“I miss him, Doyoung.” Ten whines, switching between channels indolently after crashing his friend’s house to complain, raid the fridge and give a noogie to Doyoung’s younger brother, Donghyuck, for shooting past him in height. “You should have seen the vein on his arms when he lifted the cat, I think I got half-hard just from looking at it.” It’s one thing when it’s a hot guy but it’s another when they’re hot  _whilst_ holding a small, tabby feline. 

“First of all, _ew_.” Doyoung responds loftily, mindlessly swatting his legs on the table till the shorter obliges. “But second of all, me too dude, _me too_.” He sighs wistfully, eyes straying away with a glassy look. Some would even say he’s thinking about his long lost love rather than the firefighter with dimples deeper than the Mariana trench.

“Donghyuck, tell your cat to climb up the tree.” Ten pouts from the couch, turning to look down at the younger texting his newest fling, some boy who transferred from Canada with a 'really cool' accent and apparently 1000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. It’s borderline tragic when a sixteen year old kid had a more active love life than he did.

Said boy doesn’t even peer up, fingers tapping away on the screen. “You go climb up a tree.”

Ten guffaws. Doyoung snorts besides him. But _then_ , he stills. And then, he turns to look at him.

And then, _that’s_ where it all goes downhill really.)

 

\- ✦ - 

 

“When I said I wanted to be tall for once, I didn’t know fate would do be like this.” Ten comments, a few minutes after looking at one of the leaves hanging off a branch before it sadly fell off. A juxtaposition of his life really.

He sees Doyoung shaking his head, the top of his hair fluttering. “Look on the bright side, at least we’re meeting them again!” Donghyuck cheers unenthusiastically besides him, too busy recording and cataloguing the constant fuck-ups Ten’s prone to.

“I can’t look on the bright side,” He says bitterly. “The leaves are all blocking it.”

“On the dim side then.” Doyoung corrects, unhelpfully.

Predictably, it doesn’t make Ten feel any better. “This is what you get when you think with your dick.” He announces, swinging one of his leg because he’s too desensitized at this point.

Whatever his friend wants to reply with promptly gets cut off by the loud siren wailing in the distance, the obnoxious red block of transport filing into view. It stops besides the two (who're standing on solid ground, the solid ground Ten has not felt for the last fifteen minutes) and out filters the firefighters that caused his brain to shut down in the first place.

There’s that guy who Ten recollects having dimples and a voice Doyoung wax poetic about for four days straight. He greets Doyoung and Ten sees the way his friend smiles, all gummy teeth and crinkled eyes. This time however, he also sees the way _dimple guy_ rubs his nape in nervousness and how his ears bloom bright red, similar to the uniform he’s adorning.

Well. At least he knows one of them has a chance of getting laid.

Then he looks at the guy that makes his insides twist. He’s gorgeous, to put it short. With a light sheen of sweat glistening around his forehead, and the tautness his muscles pull into, the firefighter stands tall, amicably chatting with Donghyuck as he prepares the lift to save Ten’s ass. It’s not the hotness that draws him in though, it’s the way he remembers the boy talking, and the zap of shiver that ran through him every time he laughed. If Ten’s to put it in the most kid-friendly way possible, that man could fuck him six ways to Sunday and six ways more.

“Ten? You up there?” The dimple boy shouts, and Ten bites the scathing remark of yes he's here, where else _could_ he be.

Instead, he shouts. “Yep, please hurry. I’m pretty sure I have a twig stuck somewhere unpleasant.”

He smiles when  _softie with the muscles_ laughs. “We’ll be there as soon as possible.”

They make quick work of it and soon enough, the view of Ten’s recent fantasies gets closer and closer until he comes face to face with him. There’s a wry smile on the guy’s face as if he’s seen this before— this as in senseless boys who probably should be doing something productive like volunteering at the local charity shop than scale a tree with no sense of awareness and an enabling friend who merely eggs him on.

“Sorry for the delay, I had to tear Jaehyun out from talking to your friend.” He chuckles, a little embarrassed. “You okay, Ten?”

And because he has no filter, he blurts out without a single thought of conscious about where he is, whose mother’s son he’s talking to and whether it’s the right time when he’s 10m above ground with the birds tweeting around him (they’re probably telling him to shut the fuck up). “I just want to know how you’re still smoking hot when there’s no fire around.”

The firefighter's arm that’s reaching for Ten stills mid-way, silence ringing through the hustling of the trees. There’s a surprise look on his face and there’s one of mortification on Ten’s.

“Um.”

Perhaps falling off the branch would be the best way to get out of this situation.

Ten tries to salvage it, but really, it's like that time he was seven and tried glueing his mother's broken vase back together.

(There're many ways of going past it, he optimistically thinks. _I_ _didn’t mean that_ would be good, _just kidding_ would be fine, even a simple _I’m so sorry_ would sort it all out.)

“I said what I said.”

(But Ten _clearly_  seems to have none of his consciousness intact.)

If he hadn't been internally dying himself, he would have taken more time to appreciate the rosy colour that paints the guy’s cheek and the doe-like eyes he has from how hard he widens it. The ray of light hits the boy just right and it amplifies it all and maybe this was what Doyoung had been talking about when he said look on the bright side.

“Uh,” The fireman stammers. “Thank you?”

“Your welcome.” Ten coughs, belatedly realising he’s still hugging the damn tree and his feet are nowhere near the ground as he would like it to be. He clears his throat and says with resoluteness, pretending like the past minute of him professing his thirst for the fireman hadn’t just happened. “Now are you going to help me down, or am I going to have to climb over with my short legs and my fear of heights.”

“Y-Yeah, of course.” The taller stammers, blinking a few times to compose himself. Glad to know Ten doesn’t have to be in a club with a filmy top and tight jeans to evoke the same reactions. “Here, just grab onto my shoulders.” He slowly holds on to the arm steadying him, dragging up it to rest against the firefighter’s shoulders. “That’s it, and now hook it around.”

Ten's practically hugging him at this point. Not that he’s complaining.

“Like this?”

“Yep.” The guy smiles and it’s like he _wants_ Ten’s legs to feel like jelly and lose their balance. “Hold still.” He shuts his eyes as he feels the other manoeuvring him, his legs suddenly hovering under nothing, eliciting a squeak out of Ten before it touches something more solid than the barks of a branch.

“There we go.” It takes a few seconds for Ten to consider opening his eyes and another few to slowly expose them, noticing the deathly grip he still has on the firefighter’s shoulders and the hands securely wrapped around his waist. (When Ten envisioned this happening, it had been in the confinement of his bedroom and more importantly, horizontal.)

“This is kind of a cosy position.” He murmurs, slowly detaching himself from the boy. He shakes off his nerves, sending a quick glance to spot the boy smiling.  “You usually save people like this?”

“Only the cute ones.”

His grin goes wider when Ten chokes on nothing. He covers his mouth but it doesn’t stop the flush steadily spreading up his neck. “You say that to everyone you see?”

“No, only to you.” The fireman says, readily. He's practically giving Ten a run for his money on how to be completely shameless.

“I’m honoured then.” Ten drawls because he's not one to easily beat either, gripping onto the ledge of the machine and leaning against it to spare the boy a grin.

“I would hope so.” The guy shrugs sheepishly, wrinkling his nose and scratching it (it shouldn't cause a stir in his heart but Ten's always been a sucker for hot boys with cute tendencies), disclosing. “Me and Jaehyun had to do a lot of persuading so they could send us instead to come get you.”

The shorter makes a noise of surprise. “Really?” Ten asks. He smirks, patting the fireman on his chest, just a little disappointed the boy’s taken to wearing his plastic jacket and not the black t-shirt he’d worn the first time they met. “Send my thanks to your senior that obliged in the pursuit of love then.”

He quirks a brow at Ten’s choice of words. “Love, eh?”

“I have big dreams, Mr. Fireman.”

“Johnny.” He says, quickly and then repeats a little more bashfully. “Call me Johnny.”

Ten kind of liked _softie with the muscles_ but he guesses he can flit it away for a name he’ll hopefully be saying a lot more soon (in more ways than one). “Finally, a name to put to your face. Nice.” It’s the chirps of the birds that remind him. “I suggest we start handing down though, unless we want to be the new spot for a bird's home, Johnny.”

Johnny startles, fiddling around with the switches. “Shit, you’re right.”

There’s a flurry of hands around the buttons and Ten has to steady himself when the lift descends down after a little jolt. He sees Doyoung still conversing away with Jaehyun, the _dimples boy_ and Donghyuck packing his phone away, a little bit of an edge to his face. Almost the same one he made when he once walked in on Doyoung and Ten  _experimenting._

The ground is grey and firm when they ultimately land and Ten's almost inclined to kiss it. But he's already made his stupid decision of the day, and making another at this point in time would just be embarassing _and_ pathetic. It's not as pathetic however, as waiting for Doyoung to notice him when he's literally standing right there. It shifts from pathetic to pitiful when Doyoung continues talking to Jaehyun, oblivious to Ten crossing his arms, a little miffed but mostly just awed. Awed because it actually takes certain skills to practically ignore everyone in favour of the boy in front of him.

“When your own friend’s too busy flirting to notice his friend’s safe and sound after being stuck for twenty minutes.” Ten laments.

Johnny reveals from his side. “If it’s any consolation, Jaehyun’s pretty smitten by him too.” 

It takes a whole forty seconds for Doyoung to notice him and it's not despite his own accord, but from flailing his arms around and making eye contact with Ten, who stands there, _a few feet away,_ unimpressed. Just for that, he mentally makes a note to raid the snacks he knows Doyoung has in that special corner away from Donghyuck’s knowledge.

 _Take that_.

“Ten! You’re alive!”

“No thanks to you.” He grumbles. Jaehyun catches up with Johnny and they leave with the reason of having to fill out a report. It's only when they're a distance away that Doyoung replies, nudging the shorter with a Cheshire grin.

“Hey.” He wiggles his fingers, poking Ten’s arms with it and relaying. “I saw the way you were talking with Johnny up there.”

“And _I_ saw the way you were using your club voice with Jaehyun.”

A voice cuts them off altogether. “Yeah, and I saw you _both_ ogling at them like Christmas came early and decided to bring your birthdays along with it too.” Donghyuck inputs from the side, looking at them with a judgmental arch of his brow.

“Touché.” 

It’s right before Jaehyun makes his way towards them, Johnny standing near the fire-truck still filling out the form with a pensive look on his face. 

“We probably need to get going now.” Jaehyun announces, his tone sounding a little unwilling if someone focused on it more. “So, if everything’s fine, we’ll be heading back.” His eyes keep going back to Doyoung and Ten wants to ask whether the question's even directed at him, the  _rescuee_.

“Everything’s fine.” Doyoung answers (again, shouldn't Ten be answering this?), his tone completely changing from the usual teasing lilt to this softer take, one he's only heard after a few rounds of beer. Love makes you blind, as the quote goes. Ten wants to add on it also makes you sound like a twelve year old out on a first date with their parents driving in the front seat. “Thank you, again.”

“No, no, it’s my pleasure.” Jaehyun hurries to shake his head, voice equally soft. It’s a little nauseating. Donghyuck gives him a look from behind that vaguely resembles a _you see? You see what I’d have to put up with for the ten minutes you were stuck up there with Johnny?_

Jaehyun leaves and Johnny still hasn’t made his way to Ten. It almost seems like he’s a little shy. And isn’t that adorable coming from a 6ft boy who saves lives on a daily basis but can’t bring himself to talk to him, a boy who's 5’6 on a good day.

He strides over, reaching there just in time to catch the boy still half-way through opening the truck door.

“Hey, Johnny.” He turns around to look at him almost expectantly. _Aw_. “Back then.” He starts and it’s not Ten without saying what’s on his mind without an ounce of debase. He just hopes Jaehyun’s occupied with fiddling around with the radio channels. “Did you mean cute as in _aw, let me pat your head and buy you an ice cream_ or cute as in _wow, let me show you my hosebed and the things I can do in it_?”

 _Déjà vu._ Ten recalls the same face Johnny made back then. “You sure are something, Ten.” This time, he adds in a bemused chuckle. Leaning in to respond, just shy away from their foreheads touching, Johnny shares. “But if you must know, I mean cute as in _let me take him out on a date first and then we can talk about each other’s hoses.”_

Jaehyun tiredly interjects. “I would like it to mean stop using fire service terms as sexual innuendos because someone else here still has to use it for his everyday job.”

It seems like Jaehyun’s definitely had not been occupied with the radio channels. 

Ten doesn’t care though. He’s too busy beaming at Johnny. “Go on then. 6pm sharp, tomorrow. I’ll text you the address.”

Johnny grins, shaking his head at Ten’s boldness. He better get used to it. “I don’t have your number.”

Ten spares a look at Jaehyun, and before either of the firefighters could say anything, he leans up to give Johnny a hug and winks at his friend beside. “Text Doyoung your number, I’m sure Jaehyun over here has it under a pink heart.”

He leaves to the memory of Jaehyun’s ears bleeding red and Johnny’s dulcet laughter ripping through the air and into his heart.

 

**Author's Note:**

> believe it or not, i had cut down three more puns lmao  
> this is my first time writing johnten and ten's a character i still haven't come to write comfortably yet so any feedback would be lovely :')  
> im on [twitter](https://www.twitter.com/heavenleehyuck), join me on my quest to shower donghyuck with love asdfghjklld ;;;


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